Hi elloco (or should that be "El Loco"?). You are ...

2009-10-06T15:24:23.496+01:00

Hi elloco (or should that be "El Loco"?). You are very welcome.

You mean a kind of "opiate of the masses"? There is something of that, I suppose. It does provide relief in what is in parts a harsh continent. Its orality rather than literary nature also make it more conducive to the socioeconomic group it predominantly attracts.

But aside from such sociological explanations, we musn't forget spiritual ones.

Anyway, I think your comments are perceptive. Thanks. Nice to have someone get involved on the Pentecostal/Latin America side.

Maybe Pentecostalism places more emphasis on feeli...

2009-10-05T16:33:44.936+01:00

Maybe Pentecostalism places more emphasis on feeling rather than thinking, so you don't have to be educated and understand tricky concepts, as you might have to to integrate into a middle-class evangelical church. It's your experience, rather than what others tell you that counts. Also Pentecostalism maybe provides a spiritual release from all the pressures and hardships of everyday life for the poor.

Comments on Calvin L. Smith: Latin American Pentecostalism's Success

Hi elloco (or should that be "El Loco"?). You are ...

Maybe Pentecostalism places more emphasis on feeli...